Chris McCausland: Not Blind Enough

Thought-provoking and impassioned show from the previously rather benign McCausland

Previous Fringe shows have seen Chris McCausland bumble around the benign landscapes of budget airlines, cryptic crosswords and moths. But a comment at a party last year – ‘You’re not blind enough’ – struck home. Coupled with a bout of post festival-illness that made him reconsider returning this year, and his very recent marriage, he’s got to thinking about disability, and his ‘own place within the universe.’

The resulting show, Not Blind Enough, is more thoughtful, angry and challenging than what’s come before. He dared himself to try comedy in 2003 and chose not to make a feature of his blindness – who wants an hour of anecdotes about being blind, he muses. In this set, Nativity plays and nosebleeds aside, he dwells lengthily on the ethical dilemmas surrounding disability. He drives a coach and horses through the concept of the Paralympics, quibbles disability employment legislation and defends his right to hold certain well-meaning attitudes hypocritical. Quiet glimmers of humour abut moments of self-confessed controversy. It occasionally veers away from stand up into soapbox, but his conclusion certainly sends the audience away with food for thought.